Bait casting rod and reels have been in use for a number of decades, and are particularly used for fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass. A freely revolving spool of line is mounted transversely to the axis of the rod on which the reel is mounted. During casting operation, the spool of line revolves, thereby releasing line from the reel. A user's thumb is utilized to apply pressure to the spool of line, to prevent line from being withdrawn until the proper moment during the casting operation. Upon release of the thumb pressure during the casting operation, the spool of line starts to revolve to release line therefrom. If the spool overruns the line being released, a backlash can result, to the detriment of perhaps considerable amount of fishing time. Therefore a user will generally lightly thumb the spool of line during the casting operation (together with pressure applied by various forms of mechanical and/or magnetic devices), to prevent any such overrun and resulting backlash.
This contact of the user's thumb with the spool of line wets the user's thumb, which can become most uncomfortable in cold weather. Because of the required sensitivity needed during the casting step, gloves on the hand which will thumb the reel are not considered practical. Furthermore, during the line retrieve with certain types of lures, such as, for instance, plastic worms, it is necessary to utilize a bare hand on the rod or even on the line being retrieved in order to detect soft strikes.
Some of the best fishing of the year in certain locations is during the months of January, February and March, during the period of time just prior to the bass spawning. At that time of year, even in warmer locales, such as certain of the southern states of the United States, a wet hand exposed to ambient conditions can be most uncomfortable, and in more northern locations the wet, exposed hand generally limits the amount continuous fishing time available to casters of artificial lures.
The Mitchell U.S. Pat. No. 2,997,042 discloses a handwarmer for fishing rods, wherein the handwarmer is built into the handle of the fishing rod or similar device, such as a ski pole. In order to improve the usefulness of the warmer, a fabric mitt is provided to snuggly embrace the handle, with the mitt being large enough to receive a hand through a hand opening (note column, lines 18-43 of Mitchell). As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 6 of Mitchell, and as described at column 3, lines 60-68 of the patent, the mitt is applied to the handle, to snuggly embrace reel portion 82, prior to installing the reel or line winder. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the reel or line winder is mounted external to the fishing mitt of Mitchell, so that the Mitchell mitt would have no problem with frictional drag on line passing through the mitt itself from a fishing reel mounted inside of the fishing mitt.